Just a little blog for posting various creations for the BECMI / Rules Cyclopedia edition of Dungeons and Dragons. All hail the Red Box!
Updated whenever possible with a little something, whether a monster or spell or item or just a little list of whatevers.

Friday, April 15, 2011

M: Magitech and Mecha

My go-to game is D&D of many stripes, and always has been; and yet when I look at the bookshelf behind me the fantasy games are outnumbered by the scifi games:

-Anima- Pathfinder

- Mekton Zeta- Alternity- Jovian Chronicles- Traveller

It's an interesting dichotomy to be sure, but I would be a rank liar if I said that nothing science-tech-mechanical made it into my D&D games. Readers of this blog know my fascination with magitech and magical clockworks; there's been at least one flying mecha-ship, in the form of a bird of prey, and the number of robots living statues and similar such non-fleshy beasties is by no means small.

This works for me, obviously -- the basic idea if still the same, after all, only the trappings and the exterior appearance has been adapted to fit. This is better than trying to shoehorn straight-up mecha into a D&D game in my opinion; that kind of jarring juxtaposition can wreak havoc unless handled very carefully and I freely admit to preferring being "sneaky" about the subject. It causes fewer moments of cognitive dissonance for my players, I get to be creative with descriptions, and it neatly dodges the whole "you're putting scifi in my D&D baaaaww" I've occasionally been forced to listen to. (see also: psionics.)

... Well, unless I ever write up that Voltron adaptation. Then the giant-robots-in-"fantasy"-world scenario just might make sense.

I have had at least two players in two distinct groups flat out say they would not play in a game focusing on Mecha, fantasy or otherwise. This has always been a huge disappointment for me.

I do still manage to fit some giant robots in nearly every campaign I run. I've been debating on home-brewing some mecha rules for S&W/LL inspired by mutant future's power armor and Exalted's Warstrider rules...